Fall 2009 What Do You Know About Business?
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Giving Your Office the Green Light The ABCs of a Constructive Culture Lucky Number Seven marriott school of management brigham young university fall 2009 WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BUSINESS? CHECK OUT OUR WEEKEND EXECUTIVE MBA OPTION IN SALT LAKE CITY Now a top-ranked MBA program is closer and more convenient than ever. Experience the same core classes and unique curriculum taught by the Marriott School’s nationally and internationally recognized MBA faculty. The Salt Lake class begins late July 2010. The weekend BYU EMBA is designed with the executive’s schedule in mind. • Meet every other weekend in downtown Salt Lake City on Friday and Saturday • Attend classes in the Triad Center—just 10 minutes from the Salt Lake International Airport • Fly or drive in with easy access from I-15 and free onsite parking • Complete the program in 22-months LEARN MORE AT INFO SESSIONS: Salt Lake City Idaho Area Nevada Area California Area 9 Oct, 20 Nov, Boise, 7 Oct Las Vegas, 15 Oct Reno, 3 Nov • Sacramento, 4 Nov 11 Dec, 8 Jan Idaho Falls, 8 Oct St. George, 16 Oct Bay Area, 5 Nov RSVP ONLINE AT EMBA.BYU.EDU BYU EXECUTIVE MBA Great Expectations . Great Results Contents fall 2009 Features 4 the abCs of a ConstruCtive Culture By Emily Smurthwaite 8 giving your offiCe the green light By J. Melody Murdock 12 a tireless effort By J. Melody Murdock 14 leading alumni By Megan Bingham 18 a major merger By Emily Smurthwaite 22 luCky number seven By Megan Bingham 28 PieCes of the ProCess Puzzle 4 By Kate L. Kirkham News 2 dean’s message This Is Your Call By Jim Engebretsen 3 inside the Classroom Tech Sandbox Adds to Addition 33 sChool news Get the latest information on Marriott School students, faculty, and general school news updates. 41 alumni news Read about Management Society chapters, and catch up with former classmates and friends. 18 Visit Marriott Alumni Magazine online at marriottmag.byu.edu. This Is Your Phone Call by Jim EngEbrEtsEn Each of us has our own networks of people skills, and industry preparation. Marriott and resources that could be very helpful to School alumni are a great resource for men- others. Reaching out to your associations toring. To connect with former classmates and to community groups has never been and other byu alumni, log in to the new easier, thanks to the recent proliferation alumni portals at marriottalumni.byu.edu. of social and professional networking sites To paraphrase Thomas Edison, genius— such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo, Twitter, like finding a job—is “1 percent inspiration, and others. There is no need to be shy about 99 percent perspiration.” seeking networking opportunities with We have to work together to help one alumni or associates. another in these economically challenging Anderson Goncalves, a 2009 mba gradu- times. Please contact me if you know of solid ate, recently landed a job as an account rep- job opportunities for Marriott School gradu- resentative for the Brazilian market at Infor ates: [email protected] or 801-422- Global Solutions. Before he got the position 4802. As we answer the call to help those in he was doing the typical job-hunting tasks— need, not only will our friends receive much- ith unemployment approaching contacting people and sending out résumés needed aid but our own relationships and 10 percent nationwide, the eco- and cover letters. But it was a posting on networks will be strengthened. w nomic challenges are ever increas- LinkedIn that led him to his job. “I didn’t ing—and so are opportunities to help. expect that I would get a job from social net- Sincerely, In an April 2009 session of general con- working, but I did, and I’m really happy. It ference, Bishop Richard C. Edgley asked us to took one week between the initial contact I respond to this need. He asked us to use “our had with the company and the job offer.” organizations to respond to the challenges In addition to using networking web Jim Engebretsen of humanity” and to mobilize our response sites, we can be proactive in helping local byu Assistant Dean to the employment and financial challenges Management Society chapters, ward and stake Corporate Relations facing our members. He further urged, employment groups, lDs Employment, byu “Consider this your personal phone call.” Alumni Services, and the Marriott School’s Let us work together to answer Bishop Business Career Center find and post jobs. join the marriott sChool’s Edgely’s call to help those seeking employ- Leaders from each of these organizations are online networks ment. Here are some tips to help your friends happy to help follow through on leads and Connect with us: marriottalumni.byu.edu and acquaintances—or yourself—have a distribute the opportunities you discover. Follow us: twitter.com/marriottschool more effective job search. Many job seekers have found success in Join us: LinkedIn BYU Marriott School of Latest estimates state that 60 to 80 per- their job searches by reaching out to others Management Alumni Group cent of jobs are found through networking. for feedback on their résumés, interviewing Befriend us: facebook.com/marriottschool Marriott Alumni Magazine | Fall 2009 Gary C. Cornia, Publisher Assistant Editor, Sean Walker All communication should be sent to: Joseph D. Ogden, Managing Editor Contributing Writers, Editors, Designers, Marriott aluMni Magazine Emily Smurthwaite, Editor and Photographers, Cindy Badger, Megan Bingham, 490 Tanner Building Jon G. Woidka, Art Director Dustin Cammack, Christine Frandsen, Brigham Young University Jenifer Greenwood, Copy Editor Robert Gardner, Brad Jeppson, Chadwick Little, Provo, Utah 84602-3187 Nina Whitehead, Contributing Editor and Kelly Nield, Sara Payne, Emily Webster Phone: 801-422-5083 Fax: 801-422-0501 Photographer Magazine Design, Stephen Hales Creative, Inc. Email: [email protected] Published by the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Copyright 2009 by Brigham Young University. All rights reserved. insidE thE classroom Tech Sandbox Adds to Addition FillEd with FinE granular rock and mineral particles, sandboxes are a child’s paradise. They foster creativity in a realm of seemingly endless possibilities. The pull is so strong they often attract even the family cat. Information systems faculty members are working to foster the same creativity and hope to pull more students to a digital sandbox in the Tanner Building Addition. The new network teaching lab allows students to experiment with technology used by leading commercial enterprises without ruining thousands of dollars in equipment. “The technology in the room is great and the ability to do so much without worrying about breaking anything makes it better,” says Ryan Schuetzler, a master’s of information systems manage- ment student. “If you break something, you’re breaking only a tem- When the professor needs to lecture, students gather at tables porary machine.” for group collaboration and learning. Later they practice at com- The network teaching lab is a true techie’s paradise. It helps puter stations set up around the perimeter of the room and watch the information systems students learn how to run software in special- instructor’s screen on their own monitors. “The students can have ized classes like data communications, securities, digital forensics, their backs to me and still see what I am doing,” Lindstrom says. and business intelligence. The network teaching lab is also bigger than the computer lab in Providing students and faculty with a setup that would not limit the basement of the Harold B. Lee Library students once used. But their learning and teaching capabilities was the design objective of aside from cutting-edge technology, professors and students most the high-tech classroom/lab. appreciate the tranquility. The noisy servers are housed in an adjoin- ing room, making the classroom incredibly quiet, says Brandon Barrick, a former byu ta who now Providing students and faculty with a works for usaa in San Antonio, Texas. “Everything that is in the backroom now setup that would not limit their learning was in our old classroom,” he adds. “I would go hoarse after a review session, trying to yell over and teaching capabilities was the design the servers.” But the new equipment isn’t quieting BYU’s objective of the high-tech classroom/lab. place in the market. TechRepublic, a leading technology news organization owned by cbs Interactive, gave byu’s information systems “When I came here, I was severely restricted by what I could program a top ten national ranking in 2008. teach in data communications,” says Craig Lindstrom, information “We could never be ranked among the top ten programs in the systems professor and network lab manager. “With this setup, each nation without this new space,” Romney says. “We are exceptionally student gets to manage his or her own firewall, networks, and so grateful to the Marriott School donors who made this possible.” WILKEY/BYU forth. It opens up the ability to teach whatever you want to teach.” The brand-new, world-class network teaching lab is run almost N Lectures and reading assignments play a limited role in an entirely by Lindstrom and part-time ta Schuetzler. But it gives many information systems professor’s teaching. “With technology-based undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to solve real- classrooms you have to have state-of-the-art computers,” says world problems on real-world equipment. It’s an amazing, highly Marshall Romney, department chair. “You can’t just read about it; technical classroom that prepares byu students for life after gradua- PHOTOGRAPH BY JARE BY PHOTOGRAPH you have to do it.” tion—without burying them in the sand. fall 2009 3 The By Emily s Smurthwaite Illustrations by Andrew Bannacker OF A CONSTRUCTIVE CULTURE Three Traits Your Organization Can’t Thrive Without arly in the semester of his supply chain to a bounteous harvest.